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River

Aras River

1,072 km from source to mouth · 4 countries.

AzerbaijanArmeniaTurkeyIranAzerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey and IranFlows into Kura River2nd longest in Azerbaijan

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouth
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

1,072km

Average flow

280m³/s

Basin

102,000km²

Drop

2,086m

from 2,067 m to -19 m

Countries

4

The journey

From source to mouth

1,072 km of river and 50 stops on the way: 17 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

2,067 m-19 m
Bingöl Dağlarıat 2,067 m0 km
Çobandede Bridge115 km
Kağızman25,157 people264 km
Akhurian Rivertributary320 km
Artashat (Armenia)21,300 people416 km
Naxçıvançaytributary568 km
Aras Reservoir101 km²573 km
Tsavtributary740 km
Mil-Mughan reservoir1.9 km²835 km
Pārsābād102,996 people898 km
Kura Riverat -19 m1,072 km
02505007501,072 km
  1. 0 kmBingöl Dağlarıat 2,067 m
  2. 31 kmTekman8,270 people
  3. 115 kmÇobandede Bridge
  4. 147 kmHorasan17,067 people
  5. 264 kmKağızman25,157 people
  6. 320 kmAkhurian Rivertributary
  7. 375 kmArazap1,362 people
  8. 401 kmMetsamortributary
  9. 406 kmHrazdan Rivertributary
  10. 412 kmHnaberd611 people
  11. 414 kmAzat Rivertributary
  12. 415 kmArtashat22,800 people
  13. 416 kmArtashat (Armenia)21,300 people
  14. 426 kmPokr Vedi3,091 people
  15. 427 kmLusarat2,699 people
  16. 438 kmVeditributary
  17. 466 kmUmut Bridge
  18. 501 kmArpa Rivertributary
  19. 519 kmZangmar Rivertributary
  20. 520 kmPoldasht-Shah Takhti Bridge
  21. 520 kmPoldasht42,170 people
  22. 568 kmNaxçıvançaytributary
  23. 573 kmAras Reservoir101 km²
  24. 573 kmAras Dam
  25. 590 kmQotur Rivertributary
  26. 590 kmChurch of the Holy Mother of God (Darresham)
  27. 603 kmKhajeh Nazar Caravanserai
  28. 604 kmAlinjatributary
  29. 610 kmJulfa13,700 people
  30. 621 kmYaycı8,500 people
  31. 630 kmGilançaytributary
  32. 677 kmAgarak caravanserai
  33. 684 kmMeghritributary
  34. 684 kmMeghri Dam
  35. 695 kmShvanidzor312 people
  36. 740 kmTsavtributary
  37. 747 kmVoghdji Rivertributary
  38. 763 kmHakari Rivertributary
  39. 774 kmKhudafarin Dam
  40. 774 kmEleven-Arch Khudafarin Bridge
  41. 775 kmFifteen-Arch Khudafarin Bridge
  42. 775 kmKhudafarin Bridges
  43. 787 kmGiz Galasi Dam
  44. 835 kmMil-Mughan reservoir1.9 km²
  45. 841 kmQarasu Rivertributary
  46. 860 kmQuruçaytributary
  47. 866 kmKondalanchaytributary
  48. 898 kmPārsābād102,996 people
  49. 936 kmImishli34,178 people
  50. 968 kmSaatlı20,300 people
  51. 982 kmSabirabad30,612 people
  52. 1,072 kmKura Riverat -19 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River located in and along the countries of Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran

At the mouth it carries 285 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 8.8 seconds. It drops from 2,067 m to -19 m, 1.9 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 102,000 km², about the size of CS. 12.6 million people live in it. Highest water: from May to June; lowest: February and from August to October. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 92% of a year's flow.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

Aras River, month by month

Highest water: from May to June

Lowest water: February and from August to October. Best months to visit: from May to September.

790
-3°26 mmJan
490
-1°28 mmFeb
1,500
4°36 mmMar
1,700
11°48 mmApr
1,900
15°55 mmMay
1,900
20°35 mmJun
850
24°16 mmJul
470
23°14 mmAug
190
19°18 mmSep
340
13°36 mmOct
610
6°31 mmNov
920
0°32 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 190 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,900 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.

Plan the trip

Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car

Car hire at GBB airport (Gabala)Discover CarsSee 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

The basin

Aras River: the basin in numbers

179,564 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

DammedReservoirs can hold 92% of a year's flow: much of the river is a chain of lakes.
  • 12.6millionpeople live in the basin
  • 70/km²people per km²
  • 1,394maverage altitude of the basin
  • 517mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 8.4°Caverage air temperature
  • 8%protected areas
  • 1.3%covered by lakes
  • 1%permafrost
  • 20km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 8% Forest
  • 25% Cropland
  • 35% Pasture
  • 3% Towns and cities

RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.

Along the river

Aras River: what you find on the way

  • 23DamsKarakurt Dam, Tuzluca Dam, Khoda Afarin Dam and 20 more
  • 9Weirs
  • 1Locks

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.6 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Aras River in our other atlases

What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.

  • 2lakes on its wayLakeyas
  • 10mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (2)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Aras Reservoirkm 509101km²
  2. Mil-Mughan reservoirkm 7411.9km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (10)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Bingöl Dağları1.0 km away3,250m
  2. Serpulaş Dağı3.3 km away
  3. Mirkeşoti Tepesi3.7 km away
  4. Dağkale Tepe13 km away
  5. Bozca Hill13 km away
  6. Kırmızı Hill0.7 km away
  7. Dağkale Hill5.3 km away
  8. Kuşluca Hill10 km away

2 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Aras River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Aras River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth58 km across

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.

Photos

Aras River in pictures

Армяно-Иранская граница 2024 1
Well-read MountainMan · CC BY-SA 4.0
Aras River with Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan at Right - Iran at Left - Iranian Azerbaijan - Iran (7421349614)
Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0
Aras river at Nurduz 04
Yann Forget · CC BY-SA 4.0
Jolfa-Aras2
en:user:M karzarj · CC BY-SA 3.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

Kura RiverAzerbaijanAzerbaijan1,360 km440 m³/s

Tributaries (29)

Akhurian RiverTurkeyTurkey186 km270 m³/sjoins at km 284Hakari RiverAzerbaijanAzerbaijan170 km16 m³/sjoins at km 677Hrazdan RiverArmeniaArmenia141 km18 m³/sjoins at km 360Arpa RiverAzerbaijanAzerbaijan128 km21 m³/sjoins at km 445Azat RiverArmeniaArmenia55 km36 m³/sjoins at km 367

Also: Voghdji River, Metsamor, Vedi, Naxçıvançay, Meghri, Tsav, Kondalanchay, Qotur River, Zangmar River, Qarasu River, Quruçay, Gilançay, Alinja, Ordubad Çayı, Bağırsaqdärä, Aratso, Karavget, Vanand, Karasu Deresi, Qozluçay, Malev, Balha River, Karchevan, Shavigh

In the same basin

AlazaniAzerbaijanAzerbaijan351 km98 m³/sIori RiverAzerbaijanAzerbaijan320 km120 m³/sDebedGeorgiaGeorgia178 km30 m³/sVorotan RiverAzerbaijanAzerbaijan178 km22 m³/sAragvi RiverGeorgiaGeorgia112 km33 m³/sKhrami RiverAzerbaijanAzerbaijan201 km51 m³/sTartarAzerbaijanAzerbaijan184 km23 m³/sAghstevAzerbaijanAzerbaijan133 km8.2 m³/sKasagh RiverArmeniaArmenia89 km6.8 m³/sKsaniGeorgiaGeorgia84 km15 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

TartarAzerbaijanAzerbaijan184 km23 m³/s113 km awayAlazaniAzerbaijanAzerbaijan351 km98 m³/s185 km awayVorotan RiverAzerbaijanAzerbaijan178 km22 m³/s184 km awayIori RiverAzerbaijanAzerbaijan320 km120 m³/s200 km awayHakari RiverAzerbaijanAzerbaijan170 km16 m³/s180 km awayAghstevAzerbaijanAzerbaijan133 km8.2 m³/s288 km awayArpa RiverAzerbaijanAzerbaijan128 km21 m³/s315 km awaySefid RudIranIran670 km310 m³/s315 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q179751) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesLakeyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST

Every source and licence is on the data sources page.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit